mikey287 wrote:Ron Wilson would be a bad fit, I feel...especially for some of the younger players...it would quickly become the lunatics running the asylum again here...and Tom Renney would have a hard time getting the most of our grinders in the bottom six I feel, some players don't respect him because they don't feel that he respects what they do sometimes...

We're in a tough position to find a good replacement...we need someone that's disciplined, has a lot of tactical know-how, motivation skills and can get the most out of our offensive stars...it'd be no easy task...

I'm not sure, off hand, who would have these traits...

Mikey, it sounds like you have a good handle on the situation. You up for the job?

I have some ideas, but I wouldn't be comfortable being a head coach right off the hop...especially with the tough-to-please LGP crowd putting me under the microscope! "He scratched Deryk Engelland again!?!?! Fire the MFer!"

@DelPen - I don't view Granato as a contradiction to what you're saying...he is an outsider for the purposes of this discussion. I worry about how he handled his time in Colorado as a head man, I think he's better served as an assistant, but I've never met him either...

To my list of traits, add "a high level of adaptability" - we need a coach that isn't married to one system and can only teach one system (I'm still in the running ). Does Bylsma know more than what he's preaching? It sounds obvious, but not all coaches know more than the basics of other systems, they know their own and every nook and cranny of it...but if you asked Bylsma to make a defensive system, does he know the ins-and-outs of one? I don't know the answer to this, but I do know we need it (or think I know that we do). Especially in this shortened, condensed season (if we'll be needing a new coach this winter), we can't have the metal to the pedal to the other metal all the time. I see that we set up a 1-2-2 in a couple games early on (remember, when we were a winning team?) but that's just fundamental defense, every player knows the basics of it, it's pre-school stuff...

Honestly, we'd probably be a pretty good strong-side attack team...sort of like St. Louis does...

DelPen wrote:Whenever there is a change it needs to be a new face. Since Kehoe took over its been a company man. I get the idea of bring up th WBS guy because he knows the system and organization. But how successful has this system been in the AHL? It's not like its cranking out playoff success there either.

It's funny, this team played a lot better with Yeo and Tom Fitzgerald on the bench. Rierdan iS basically a yes man to Bylsma it seems. I like Granato though, if Bylsma does get fired mid season he will be fine for the rest of the year provided he can bring in new assistants, or at least bring in Guerin and Fitzgerald to help since they are employees now.

I was thinking about the this other night and about how many of us wanted Yeo run out on a rail. Hindsight aside, and mixing transportation metaphors, that ship has sailed.

But with regard to Tom Fitzgerald, I agree that there's a negative performance differential since he left the coaching staff. It's hard to ascertain to what if any degree he may be a factor; many of us (including me) are working from observation here, and a good bit of FHCMT's defense-first mindset was still evident when Tom was behind the bench with DB. But I'm leaning toward trying to get Tom Fitzgerald to return behind the bench, even if temporarily, but not take over.

I think the players want to win for DB; I say this only to point out that motivation is there, not that "wanting to win for" someone is the be-all, end-all. I don't want to put too much stock into what we saw in "24/7" or see during game broadcasts, as only so much is revealed to us. But I think DB strikes a balance between being a players' coach but tough when necessary. Those of you who attend practices can offer much more on this.

Yes, the HC oversees all instruction and execution; theoretically, the buck stops with the HC. But assistant coaches exist for a reason. Assistants get even closer to the actual job itself and often tougher on or sympathetic to the person doing the job--to be the HC's "bad cop" or "good cop" when appropriate and instruct the more tedious but necessary details involved in execution. So, if a coaching change must be made, does it have to be with the HC? Can it not be done a notch down at the assistant level? I think it can. Just a thought.

It would take the **** to seriously hit the fan for Bylsma to get canned mid season. I don't think the players would quit on him the way they did MT. If anything happened with DB it would be in the offseason...

It still irritates me that the Flyers got Laviolette. I hate seeing good coaches with teams I hate, and miss the clown days Flyers with Cake Man Stevens.

Eismann wrote:Dave Tippett, hands down. Coaches speed and pressure. Did a helluva job in Dallas and Phoenix. Would be better with Pens talent. Yes, similar to hcdb in principle, but has more kill in him.

mikey287 wrote:Nope and nope. As luck would have it, there's a better chance the Coyotes move than the Coyotes moving Tippett...what a twist...

I'll understand if you blast me for this Mikey, but if you were Shero and Mike Keenan applied for the job would you hire him?

I'd listen to what his ideas were for making the team better...ultimately, I think he's too old school for this group and I think he'd be rejected...but I'd listen to his sales pitch...at least we have two good goalies that we'd get to see play in every game...

Not a lot of coaching candidates out there. Bob Hartley might have been nice. Want defense? How about Larry Robinson? Gerard Gallant is another up-and-comer who just got hired as an assistant to Therrien. He actually looks like the best out there, though my inclination would be to go with someone with more experience...

But no thanks to Crawford, Wilson, Maurice, Renney, or Sutter.

Dave King? I don't know if he's up for the job. Fitzgerald is a possibility, as is probably Granato. Ron Francis owns part of the Canes, so he's out.